Editor’s Space: Art Fairs + Hate Poems

This weekend I stepped out of my Brooklyn abode to check out some happening art fairs in the city. While I didn’t have the pleasure of checking out even half of the fairs and shows going on, I did get the chance to have quality conversations with several artists in the city, posting up in Soho for a chance at exposure.

Each of the artists that I met will get their fair share of facetime at Left Bank Magazine- with a featured post on their incredible work and an interview, so you guys can get the chance to “meet” the artists as well.

I stepped in the Verge Art Fair, and had a conversation with a gentleman called ‘Larry’ who spoke quite passionately about his own work and the sheer need to continue creating pieces. I briefly told him about this new magazine // internet child that I gave birth to, explaining my passion behind curating:

“I’ve been writing for years, and recently I submitted to A TON of literature magazines and contests and got rejection letter after letter. And, its really difficult … It’s really hard to continue creating when you’re constantly rejected; a piece of your soul dies.”

To which he responded later:

“I think it can be suppressed [that feeling of needing to create] but it never quite dies or goes away. It’s always there in you.”

Later that night, I came home to go through my treasure trove of postcards and iPhone photos of the art that I saw, and happened upon my first hate email, in the form of a poem … because Left Bank Magazine has already set a precedent of proper forms of communication.

I won’t get into the details, but it essentially stated that we [Left Bank Magazine] were taking advantage of artists’ work by not paying for submissions. It also went quite elaborately into how we [the people behind Left Bank Magazine] don’t know what it feels like to be an artist. To which I would like to respond:

The sole purpose of Left Bank Magazine is to provide a platform for artists (of all kind) to showcase their work, potentially get discovered by much larger magazines, galleries, etc. and hopefully catapult what will become a very successful career. I understand the need to create, it eats at me most days, and if I had the funds to do so, I would pay each and every artist for sharing their work and having the courage to put themselves and their art out there, one more time.

Whether you love it, hate it, or can’t understand it, Left Bank Magazine exists because there are a lot of us out there looking for a place to share our stories before our voices are little more than a whisper.

Keep on creating, because there are people out there who genuinely care about you and what you have to say.